Before the monarchy was established, Israel was surrounded by threats to its national prosperity, integrity, and identity. Foreign nations advanced, false gods enticed, and hostile alliances formed. Yet, as real as these external dangers were, the greatest threat came from within. The priesthood had become a law-ignoring, self-serving, and people-abusing institution—modelling and promoting religious apathy and disobedience instead of faith in God and service to God. With such covenant unfaithfulness in leadership, it’s no surprise that Israel was enduring such dark days. Those who oppose the Lord will find the Lord opposing them.

And yet, as He always does, God offered His wayward people an undeserved silver lining of hope: a road to reconciliation, a path to forgiveness, a picture of faithfulness, and an invitation to acceptance.

SERMON MANUSCRIPT 

Some of you may be familiar with the work of Os Guinness, a prolific author who primarily focuses on cultural, political, and social issues from a Christian worldview. In 2012, he published a book called A Free People’s Suicide in which he both celebrates the freedom Americans enjoy and highlights the fragility of that freedom. It’s one thing to win liberty, he says, but another to maintain it. Free people may just use that freedom to destroy freedom.

Near the end of the book, Guinness concludes that “the ultimate threat to the American republic will be Americans. The problem is not wolves at the door but termites in the floor.”

What’s true of every country is true of every church, every family, and every life. If the house is not in order, if the foundations are chewed away, if convictions are eroded, then hardship is imminent. And that’s what we find in 1 Samuel 2. The nation of Israel was surrounded by danger: foreign nations, false gods, jealous alliances. The wolves were at the door. 

But what was murmured in the book of Judges, is shouted here: that the termites were in the floor; that the ultimate threat to Israel was Israel. Their foundation had become weakened by decades of neglect by the very people entrusted with its maintenance—the priests—and, because of that, the nation had become weak under God’s divine discipline. 

THE SONS OF ELI

First Samuel 2:12–36 focuses on this internal problem, a problem epitomized by the sons of Eli.

[2:12a] We’ve already been introduced to Eli and his lovely boys, Hophni and Phinehas, in chapter 1—they “were priests to the Lord” in the tabernacle at Shiloh. But, apparently, they weren’t good at it. In fact, the sons’s of Eli were worthless men, rebellious scoundrels. 

In 1:16, Hannah asked their Father, Eli, not to think of her “a worthless woman,” a rebellious scoundrel. Meanwhile, he’s got two at home.

And what made them “worthless”? [2:12b–13a] These are priests of God who don’t know God, not that they’re unaware of him but that they don’t acknowledge his authority. Obviously, that affected how they served God’s people in God’s house. 

Like sadistic doctors or vegan butchers, the sons of Eli don’t belong in the priesthood. All they’re doing is exporting rebellion. If leaders are insubordinate, followers will be too. If elders are disobedient, congregations will be too. If parents are lawless, children will be too. And if the “priests of the Lord” do “not know the Lord,” the people of the Lord won’t either.

We’re then given specific examples of their rebellion. [2:13b–14] This seems to be describing the normal practice at that time. Priests had the right to eat from the cooked offering, to send a servant with a big fork to get their portion.

But, here’s what good ol’ Hophni and Phinehas did: [2:15]. These boys wanted to get their cut before it was cooked, when the meat was still raw and maybe even undrained of blood, something prohibited in the Law (Lev. 17:11, 14). They wanted their share when they wanted it to prepare it the way they like it. They cut the line even ahead of God.

This was an obviously inappropriate abuse of position, but if called out, more abuse would follow. [2:16–17] Can you hear the termites eating?

Drop to verse 22 for another example. [2:22] What charming lads, huh? What examples of holiness! That “Eli was very old” tells us that this had been going on for a while without any parental or priestly correction.

Finally, Eli says something: [2:23–24]. It’s “the Lord’s people” who are victims of these scoundrels: “all that his sons were doing to all Israel,” “the evil things that I hear from all these people.” Eli warns them: [2:25a]. It’s one thing to oppose people, when God can have your back, but what happens when you oppose God himself? [2:25b]

These scoundrels couldn’t hear correction because God had decided enough was enough. As Hannah had prayed, “The Lord kills and makes alive; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1:6). The sons of Eli had crossed the rubicon of rebellion and cemented their judgement.

Brothers and sisters, we can’t be reminded too often of the calcifying effect of sin in our lives. Just as gases expand to fill any container they occupy, so sin—if allowed and tolerated—will permeate our lives, our homes, and our assembly. 

Even for the believer, sin can become intoxicating, paralyzing, and controlling. It can’t alter our Christ-secured destination, but it can destroy everything along the way—robbing peace, halting maturity, stifling usefulness, killing, unity, hurting others, and inviting discipline; “For whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:12). And, unlike Eli, our God is a loving Father.

The sons of Eli opposed God, so God opposes them. He sends an anonymous prophet to their dad. [2:27–28] These are rhetorical questions; God did do these things. He revealed himself to Eli’s forefather, Aaron, a descendant of Levi, the tribe God chose to serve him as priests. What a privilege! What a blessing! What an honour!

So, [2:29]. You’ve spat on this privilege. You’ve used this sacred position as a platform for gluttony and abuse. 

[2:30–33] The unfaithfulness of Levi’s line cancelled God’s conditional promise, one tied to the bilateral Mosaic covenant. They didn’t honour him like they said they would, so he wouldn’t honour them. There are severe, generational consequences. And here’s how Eli will know this is true prophecy: [2:34] As always, sin brings death and destruction.

Even though this is not the point of this passage, I would be remiss if I didn’t point it out: belonging to God takes more than being around God or the things of God. It takes more than coming from a religious home, doing religious things, or speaking in religious ways. The sons of Eli had all of that, yet they were worthless, wicked, rebels.

Today someone may attend church and give to charity, have parents who read the Bible and grandparents who pray. They may have grown up in the church, feel sorry for bad things they’ve done, and think of Jesus as a great example. None of that makes them any further along than Hophni and Phinehas.

The only thing that makes anyone right with God is faith in God’s Son. In the OT, people looked ahead, trusting God to send Messiah. Today, we look back, celebrating that he did. That Jesus, the Christ, came to earth, died in our place, and rose from the dead promising forgiveness and everlasting life to all who trust him for it. That, and that alone, is how one is made right with God. There is no other way, as sincerely and earnestly as it may be pursued.

The sons of Eli, demonstrating willful disobedience to God and hateful irreverence for God, invited divine opposition. Never mind the wolves at the door, Israel had termites in the floor.

THE SON OF HANNAH

This is a dark passage describing dark people living in a dark time. But, as he often does, the Lord provides a silver lining of hope. And here, that silver lining comes in the form of the son of Hannah, Samuel. Throughout this otherwise depressing chapter, the author repeatedly mentions this one boy of Hannah’s as a contrast to the two boys of Eli.

It starts a bit tense. To fulfill her vow, Hannah drops her just-weaned son off in Shiloh, and, according to verse 11, there he “ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.” This priest would reconnect with the family later. [2:20–21a] All of this emphasizes that Samuel has gone from the care of Elkanah and Hannah to the care of Eli.

Okay, but verses 12–17 highlight the parental incompetence of this priest and the character of Samuel’s new big brothers, and we start to wonder if the son of Hannah is going to go the same direction as the sons of Eli. I mean, while his birth family faithfully “come up … to offer the yearly sacrifices” (2:19), his new family “despised the offering of the Lord” (2:17). This could go either way.

As Paul would later write, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” We often become like who we’re around, especially during formative years. That’s why wise parents pay attention to the people influencing their children—teachers, coaches, friends, and online influences. 

In that case, it seems that Samuel’s situation is a parental nightmare. But, here’s a silver lining. While “the sin of the young men [Hophni and Phinehas] was very great before the Lord” (2:17), verse 18, “Samuel was ministering before the Lord.” The sons of Eli are sinning before the Lord. The son of Hannah is serving before the Lord. Verse 21 adds, to the relief of the reader, “And the boy Samuel grew up before the Lord.” Not only before Eli, but before God.

[2:26] He’s physically growing up in the temple. Verse 19, highlights this also: “his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband” Why would he need new robes every year? He keeps getting bigger!

But Samuel’s not only growing in stature, something Eli and his sons could say as well, he’s also growing “in favour” with God and others. Unlike the sons of Eli, Samuel isn’t opposing God or abusing God’s people. He’s going another way.

And I love this little detail: look at verse 28 where the prophet is rebuking Eli with a string of rhetorical questions: [2:28a]. The ephod was an ornamental piece of clothing worn by priests when performing sacred services. God asks Eli, “Weren’t you given that privilege? You were! But you’re not living up to it; you’re defaming it.”

And the reader cries out, Is there anyone who can carry this holy mantle? Is there anyone who can represent us before God, interceding for our sins and caring for our needs? [2:18] Samuel isn’t yet a priest, but in an almost anticipatory way, he dressed like one. In a sea of darkness and rebellion, God always offers a silver lining of hope.

Some of us need that reminder, week after week. Grief, loneliness, disappointment, sadness, anxiety, and fear seem to be blotting out the sun most days. Some cry themselves to sleep, toss nervously all night, and wake up facing a day that’s no better than the one before.

It’s not enough that wars are raging, populations are starving, people are dying, abuse is everywhere, and economies are straining, but we have to hear about it all the time and fight about it as armchair experts dissect it and preach that they know how to solve it.

And then, on top of all that, I’ve got to deal with my own heart as well. As much as I want to outsource all the blame of my experiences in this life to factors out there, I know what’s going on in here. It’s my selfishness and pride, my jealousy and lust, greed and idolatry that is going to bring me down, that’s going to harm the people around me. And it’s our contentiousness and fickleness, self-centredness and bitterness, stubbornness and malice that’s going to bring down Oakridge. It’s the termites in the floor more than the wolves at the door.

This is a dark world filled with dark people in a dark time. And God’s people cry out, Is there anyone who can carry this holy mantle? Is there anyone who can represent us before God, interceding for our sins and caring for our needs? Is there a holy exterminator to which we can look?

THE SON OF GOD

This is where we turn from the sons of Eli and the son of Hannah to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and, more specifically, to the Table of Remembrance that he has set for us and to which he invites all of us.

Turn please to Matthew chapter 26. And, as you turn, let’s recall the darkness of that day. 

Israel had met their long-awaited Messiah, and then rejected him, his teaching, and his offer to be their King. He had wanted “to gather [them] together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, [but they] were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37).

And, spearheading this rebellion was, guess who?, the priests and religious leaders, again showing their worthlessness and rebellion, sons of Eli, we might say. 

Threats were mounting, the cross was looming, betrayal was happening, and fear was growing. It was in this darkness that Jesus and his disciples made preparations for the Passover, a meal of commemoration for God’s gracious deliverance of his people from a dark time in their past. Would he do it again? Could he do it now?

Here comes the divine silver lining of hope: [26:26–29]

Into the darkness of rebellion shone a great light, a light far brighter than the son of Hannah—it was the Son of God. He would lay down his life for our forgiveness and take it up again for our justification, he would cover with his righteousness all who place their faith in him.

That’s what we remember when we take these elements—the bread—remembering the vicarious self-sacrifice of the Lamb of God—and the cup—the sin-washing, covenant-ratifying blood shed for us. 

How were Hophni and Phinehas seen “before the Lord”? They were “worthless,” ignoring God and despising his blessings. They opposed the Lord, so the Lord opposed them.

How was Samuel seen “before the Lord”? He was favoured, serving faithfully and growing totally. He blessed God and God blessed him.

How are you seen “before the Lord”? Well, because of what Christ did on the cross, you are an eternally blessed, forever kept, infinitely loved child of the Almighty. You are forgiven, free from condemnation. You have passed from death to life, darkness to light. You have a perfect Saviour, an eternal High Priest, and a soon-coming King.

Yes, it’s dark out there and it’s dark in here. But let’s never lose sight of the silver lining of hope, an eternal hope, an unfading, imperishable light-giving and life-guiding hope. 

We eat and drink to remember: to remember our rebellion against Christ, the provision made by Christ, the life we’re now called to live for Christ, and the future we have secured with Christ. Let’s eat and drink together.

---

---